Upside-Down Stuffed Peppers

Peperoni Ripieni Sottosopra

This is one of the most magical dishes of southern Italy, especially from around the province of Avellino, in Campania. I have often grown sweet bell peppers in my garden, but the sweetness of those I have had from Campania far outshines anything I have ever tasted here. It is the variety, the intensity of the Mediterranean sun, and the long growing season that accounts for this. Or maybe it is the proximity of grumpy Mount Vesuvius that has lent richness to the soil over the centuries.

Whatever the reasons, these delicious peppers and the variety of seasonings and stuffings they encase are a favorite of many. My mother makes hers with ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal and keeps this meat mixture moist by baking the stuffed peppers upside down. They can be baked a day ahead and are even better as leftovers. They make a great entree for a party. Serve a salad and crusty bread and let the party begin!

Directions

To make the sauce, in a sauce pot heat the olive oil and cook the onion until it softens. Stir in the pork butt chunks and Italian sausage and brown on all sides. Stir in the garlic and cook until the garlic softens. Lower the heat and stir in the crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer the sauce for about 1 hour. Stir in the basil. The sauce is now ready to use. The meat is usually removed from the sauce and served as an entree; it gives the sauce its' great flavor as it simmers.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Cut 1/4 -inch off the tops of the peppers. Carefully remove the seeds with a spoon, then rinse the peppers and set them aside.

In a large bowl, combine the sirloin, pork, veal, rice, cheese, onions, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix gently with your hands. Fill the cavities of the peppers with some of the mixture, being careful not to overpack them or they will split in the oven while baking.

Ladle 1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce in each of 2 large baking pans. Arrange the peppers upside down in the pans. Ladle 2 cups of the sauce over each pan of peppers. Cover the pans tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the peppers are soft. Remove the pans from the oven, remove the foil, and carefully turn the peppers right-side up. Serve the peppers immediately with additional sauce on the side.

This recipe is featured on show 1718, Ciao Italia Cooking Live with Daisy Martinez at Mohegan Sun.

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Comments

Nadia

These peppers are scrumptuous - and I'm about to make it for the 6-7th time. the only change I make is to add a few slices of bread soaked in a bit of milk to insure the meat remains moist and tender. It would be anyway but I like the taste of bread or bread crumbs added to any meatloaf or stuffing. If needed for another recipe, I add browned grated onion, celery and carrot, but the recipe is perfect as is; seriously delicious!

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